Govt goof-up led to urea shortage, says Digvijay

FORMER CHIEF minister Digvijay Singh has blamed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his government for the urea shortage in the State. This was the second time in three days, when the former CM slammed the Government on the issue.

FORMER CHIEF minister Digvijay Singh has blamed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his government for the urea shortage in the State. This was the second time in three days, when the former CM slammed the Government on the issue.

In a letter to Chouhan on Tuesday, Digvijay Singh said the State Government failed to estimate the demand of chemical fertilisers for Rabi season and thus did not request for adequate quantity of fertilisers. Things have come to such a pass that farmers are forced to loot trucks of fertilisers and face the brunt of police anger.

The senior Congress leaders letter on the issue comes a few days after the BJP-ruled Government blamed the Centre for urea shortage in the State.

He alleged that the chemical fertilisers made available by the Centre was given to traders on priority. The cooperative bodies were not provided fertilisers in adequate quantity hence the farmers could not get fertlisers its true price.

The traders did not only indulge in black-marketing of fertilisers but they also forced farmers to purchase fodder with fertlisers. Thus the farmers were hit hard. Union Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan has made it clear that the State Government put forward the demand of only 40,000 tonne urea for the first two weeks of January, but the Centre made available 2.5 lakh tonne urea up to December.

This showed that the State Government did not raise demand as per the requirement of the farmers, he said. Singh suggested that the urea be made available to farmers through cooperative bodies and till then traders be not given the fertilisers for sale.

The former chief minister has suggested that whenever he has to meet the Union Minister in respect with any scheme of the government, the department concerned should properly do its homework.

“My request is that please make available fertilisers to farmers as per their need and stop politics on chemical fertiliser,” he adds.